A thief's Tale
by TheBlackHand724
Summary: in the aftermath of the end battle the only one left standing to tell Harry's story is a petty thief. T for language.


Kingsly Shacklebolt sat at his desk looking at the clock. It was close to one in the morning on November 1st 1996. Normally the director of the DMLE would be home in bed at this hour but ever since the raids started happening a year and a half ago he switched his hours to late afternoon to morning. That was the only time calls came in now. As he sipped his second cup of coffee the clock struck one and he sighed.

They always struck before one. If the call didn't come in by now there would be no call for the night. Relaxing back in his chair he let out a deep breath. He was sure there would be a call. Halloween Night had a lot of significance to both sides of the war. The fact there was no call was shocking. But no call meant they could look at the case reports from yesterday.

The Crow family. Husband, wife, and twenty year old son. The other two sons were still at school. Twin 6th year Ravenclaws. They would be coming home in a few hours by floo to deal with the death of their family members. He almost felt bad for them, but nailed to the front door of the manor house were three Death Eater masks. The Crows were suspected Death Eaters. Now he knew they were Death Eaters. That's the way things were now. Suspected Death Eaters were found dead in their homes. Tied the chairs. Traces of some kind of truth potion in their system. Left arms bare exposing their dark mark. White masks nailed to the front door marking the family as Death Eaters.

That he could understand. He didn't care if you killed all the death eaters. It saved the department from having to get a warrant from the corrupt Minister. But the other people?

The random ministry people without even a suspicion of guilt? No dark marks. No white masks. Just tied to chairs with the truth potion in their system, and 9mm shell casings on the floor.

Harry Potter and his band of wild killers were pushing things way too far with the random killings. The public outcry for his head was getting too loud to hide or ignore. 26 random ministry employees.

Now he had a public that was calling for Potter's head.

With no sign of the Dark Lord in months and increasing attacks from Potters group things were crazy in the ministry. The Prophet and it's pureblood backers were not helping either.

Each day they keep the attention on Potter's group and off the real threat of the Dark Lord and his band of killers and rapists.

Opening the Crow case file on his desk he looked over the crime scene photos again and shook his head. It was defiantly Potter and his group. It was the same MO from all of the assaults.

Rune stones powering the anti apparition, portkey wards made from common creak stone so it was completely untraceable.

Small explosive to take out the magically protected front door. A front door that would have taken an hour to bring down with magic.

9mm shell casings scattered around the house, and stone gargoyles and suits of armor riddled with holes. Again it was standard bulk government issue ammo stolen from and army base so they couldn't track it.

Dead bodies with truth potion in their system but not Veritserum. Something new, or old. Magic was funny like that. Potion recipes fell in and out of practice so it was hard to keep track of what was new or old. The problem with this mix was the ingredients. None of them were rare or traceable. Everything in the mix came from a standard issue potions kit for a first year student.

House ransacked, and Valuables and gold were missing. Another clear sign it was Potter's group. Even the house elves were gone.

Lastly, the white masks nailed to the door with long muggle nails found in any hardware store in the world. Again totally untraceable.

He felt the pain in his head get worse. He didn't know if he would trade places with his former boss, Gods rest her soul, but on days like this where the Prophet was calling for not Just Harry's head but his as well for not catching the Half-Blood menace, he was tempted. Tapping a crystal paper weight on his desk he called his secretary. "Marna, can you send in Cromwell." He asked.

"Right away Sir." Came the reply.

Hopefully his lead investigator would have something this time but he was doubtful. Even though his long time friend was a great investigator with years of experience and time spent with the boys in Scotland Yard he knew he would never catch Potter. The kid was just too good.

Too methodical.

Too precise.

No prints.

No hair.

No fibers.

No proof.

Nothing.

Lead investigator Nigel Cromwell walked into his office and sat in front of his desk while he was deep in thought. Nigel would never be called athletic by muggle standers but in the wizarding world he was in peak physical health. The product of a Muggle Yard Inspector father, and an Auror mother Nigel knew how to be a cop, in fact, one would say it's all he knew how to be. His two ex-wives would attest to that fact. But even his goto guy was looking haggard tonight. Tired in a way that most of the Auror staff felt. A year and a half of night shifts. Of living is the dark had made the whole staff pale, groggy, and dead.

"No call tonight." Nigel said pulling his gold rimed glasses off his long nose and wiped them off on his well worn red robes.

"No Nigel, not tonight. Now what can you tell me anything about yesterday?" Kingly asked wiping his hand over his face.

"A bit snappy tonight, ah boss?" Nigel asked sitting back in his chair looking just as on edge as Shack was feeling. Not getting a call tonight set the whole office on edge and they both knew it.

"Have you seen the Prophet?" Kingly asked tossing the paper on the desk.

"I have, and when You-Know-Who strikes again they'll change their tune again." Nigel said smirking as he relaxed back in his seat. They both felt some of the tension drain out of the room but they both were faced with the facts of the day still and those were not helping either of them.

"You mean they'll stop calling for my head?" Shack asked with and uneasy smile.

"No, they'll be calling for your head because you didn't do anything to stop the Dark Lord from doing something bad." Nigel said laughing.

"Funny." Shack said rubbing his head as he chucked sarcastically.

"Relax! That rag will print the popular story of the day. No one really puts stock in it, and tomorrow they'll print something else." Nigel said.

"What ever you say. You just better be ready to take my desk when they oust me next week." Shack said.

"I don't think so old friend. They can't make me sit in that chair. I'm not that crazy. That chair is cursed. I'll sit back and watch the next fool crazy enough to take the job. I like the streets. I like working crime scenes. I also living." Nigel said smirking.

"Well if you like working crime scenes so much then what can you tell me about this case?" Shack asked holding up the file.

"Not much I'm afraid. You're looking at another perfect crime scene by Potter and his crew. No prints, no magical signatures, no proof. In fact it's the only way I knew it was them. It's too perfect. No one leaves a crime scene like they do."

"And we still have no clue where they are?" Shack asked.

"No boss, we can't track them, we can't owl them, we even tried brooms and point me spells. The kid is a ghost." Nigel said lighting his pipe.

"How the hell did he get like this? He was a nice normal kid after his fifth year. Then he went home and in a week he was gone. Just gone, without a trace. Not even the old headmaster could find him when he was alive." Shack said.

"I whish Moody was still alive. He'd know how to find the kid. He'd know what to do next." Nigel said.

"If he was still alive he would have stopped Amelia from getting attacked." Shack said looking haunted.

"You have to get over that boss. It's been more then a year. No one could have saved her. Her niece was lucky to be out of the house when the attack happened. How is she?"

"As good as she can be. She dropped out of school to take her aunt's seat in the Wizengamot." Shack said.

"Does she have any leads on Potter? They were friends in school right?"

"They were, but she said she hasn't spoken to him since fifth year. Besides, she wouldn't do something like this. Then again I would have said Granger couldn't do something like this and I know she's working with him. So is Longbottom. We just can't find them."

"Do you think they're under a fideless charm?" Nigel asked.

"I don't know, and there's no way to know. If they cast it then we lost the knowledge of the location and if it was someplace already under the charm then we never knew about it. You know it's times like this I hate magic." Shack said as the clock on his wall chimed two.

"Two in the morning. I might kill the Potter kid for making me shift my hours. I should be in bed right now." Nigel said puffing his pipe.

"But the kid does get things done. Look at this, we could never get a warrant to even question these three. Potter questioned them, and killed them without fuss, or long drawn out trial. No chance to buy they're way out this time." Shack said looking at the crime scene photos again.

"He also robbed the house, he's not covered in shiny armor you know. He killed three people, without a trial. Purebloods. You know what that means. Since he started hunting a year and a half ago how many people has he killed? 150? 200? Two or three times a week we get a call. He never killed innocent family members and aside for the few ministry workers he killed, which I think they were dirty, he's stuck to marked Death Eaters."

"True, but still, the Dark Lord is in hiding and there hasn't been a Death Eater attack in months. To save innocent lives I'd trade every Death Eater."

"You're the director, you dictate how we go about things and how we follow procedure. If you tell me to look, but don't catch, I can do that and let the kid finish this war off. It might cost you your job, but a can do that. We haven't got a clue where he is, but if we do and up catching up to him, I will let him walk if you ask me to. A big part of me agrees with you, I just want to know why he killed a string of seemingly innocent ministry workers. If he tells me they were Death Eaters, or working for the dark lord then I'll let him walk without a care. I'm not a pureblood and I don't sympathize with the cause. The lot of um could rot for all I care, but it's my job to protect the innocent and catch the guilty. I don't get paid to make the Pureblood fools sleep better at night. Especially when it looks like most of them are marked Death Eaters." Nigel said.

"I agree with you, but if we catch the Potter kid we will have to hand him over to be judged. This community in Britain is a fickle one. And if they can't have their pound of flesh they will riot in the streets. Potter must stand trial, no matter what we might think of the boy." Shack said.

"Okay. We'll redouble our efforts. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch him. But I doubt it. Still we can tell the press we are doing everything in our power to catch him, and if we gat called before the Wizengamot we can even make magical oaths to that fact."

"Good now back to the case…." Shack was cut off when an out of breath auror came running into his office.

"Big explosion at some old manor house that looks like it was under some heavy wards. We have reports of close to a hundred dead, including Potter, Bones, Longbottom, and Potter's girlfriend. First response is still picking through the bodies. We have one survivor so far." He said.

"Who's the survivor?" Nigel asked as he shot out of his chair.

"Mundungus Fletcher sir. He's in Saint Mungos at the moment getting treated. He had a broken leg and a bunch of cut and burses. He should be out in an hour."

"Nigel get all of the teams together and go check it out. I want reports every hour. Goldstone bring me Fletcher when he get's out of the hospital, do not let him out of your sight. I want answers Gods Damn it!" Shack yelled.

When everyone left his office Shack picked up his coffee cup and tried to take a drink but the cup was empty. In his rage he flung the cup across the room and it smashed on the Harry Potter wanted poster hanging on the wall. "Damn it kid! You just had to keep going until you got yourself killed! Worse yet you got Amelia's niece killed too! Why? Why did you start killing? Where have you been? What made tonight different?" He said summoning the broken cup and fixing it.

"Marna!" He called through the door.

"Yes Director?" A short thin witch stuck her head into his office.

"Can you get me Mundungus Fletcher's file and another cup of coffee… no scratch that, get me a bottle of firewisky and two glasses. Dung will talk more if we get some drink in him." He said.

"Yes Director." She said leaving.

Shack opened a desk drawer and pulled out his pipe and the small red bag of Turkish black tobacco instead of his black leather pouch. It was not his favorite. It had too much of a harsh throat hit, and it stank like dragon shit but it was popular with the dodgy types like Dung. Packing some in his pipe he lit it with a wooden match, something he picked up from his late boss and took a long pull. In seconds he was choking and spitting. "I hate this cheap crap, but if I'm going to smoke with Dung then I need to build up a tolerance." He said to himself as he took another pull and this one didn't sting as bad. The head rush started to take effect and he relaxed back in his seat. "The cheap shit always gives you the best rush." He muttered.

Before the relaxing buzz wore off Goldstone was back with a bandaged up Fletcher who was limping on a cane. "Dung, it's good to see you. It's been a while." Shack said offering him a seat.

"I'm not talking until I see a law wizard." Dung said falling into the chair in front of the desk holding his bandaged head.

"Really Dung? And tell him what? That you're a con man and a thief? That you're wanted for crimes ranging from petty theft to black market dealings in dark objects. Or should I just tell him that you've been working with Potter to kill a bunch of Purebloods?" Shack asked smiling.

"I never Killed no one!" Dung yelled standing halfway out of his seat.

"I never said you did but just helping Potter and his band of marry little killers is enough to get you life in Azkaban. So I'll make you a deal. You tell me everything and I'll let you off with a shorter sentence." Shack said.

"I tell you everything I know and you let me go free." Dung said coldly.

"I can't do that, not without questioning you on the record under truth serum."

"I don't think so Shack. I'm not stupid! You give me the drugs and before I come to I'm sitting in a cell in Azkaban for all the thing's I've done. Half of them for Dumbledore. You take me down and I'll tarnish the old man's memory. And if the old man's secrets come out I have enough to bury his memory and everyone in the Order still alive!" Dung said looking at the Auror standing over him.

"Bullshit." Shack said smirking. "You barely have enough to keep you out of the clink Dung."

"Did you know the old man was setting the Potter boy up to die so he could steal the boy's estate using the Wesaly girl and her mother? Did you know he kept vital information from all of us so we couldn't help the kid? Can't have the Order messing up his plans can we? A bunch of fools thinking they were helping the cause, but really we were dopes. Cogs in the old man's plans for world domination through sting pulling in the background. Did you know he had a philosopher's stone and he was using it to keep himself alive? That he systematically suppressed and promoted bills to keep the Purebloods in power so he could manipulate the wizarding world? I can keep going Shack, do you really want your gofer to hear any more of what I have to say?" Dung asked sitting back in his seat with a smirk of his own.

"Do you have any proof?" Shack asked falling into his chair looking shocked. This whole time he was looking for the potter kid and the dark lord and he was working for a dark lord himself.

"The bank will be open in a few hours. This is my Black Family ring. With this ring and a note the goblins will open my small vault and hand over the box. The box has files, memory copies, and recording quill parchments. We updated the box ever week." Dung said pulling of a sliver ring and putting it on the desk.

Shack looked at the ring and then looked back at the thief. "Goldstone leave us, but stay close to the office until I call you back." Shack said without looking away from Dung. When the auror left the room Shack offered Dung the red bag of tobacco.

"No thank you, since I started working for Potter I picked up the boy's habit of smoking cigarettes." Dung said pulling out a pack of Marlboro Reds and a Zippo. "Once he found out Wizards don't get cancer he bought a pack and started puffing away. His first act of rebellion."

"Muggle lighter?" Shack asked watching the wizard thief that knew nothing of the muggle world besides how to pick a muggle's pocket pull a muggle cigarette out of the pack and light it with a gold Zippo.

"Another gift from the Master of House Black." Dung said tossing Shack the gold Zippo.

"'For your loyalty to the House of Black- Harry' Harry trusted you enough to bring you into the House of Black? Also, how the hell did he end up the Master of the House of Black?" Shack asked tossing the Zippo back.

"Harry didn't bring me into the House of Black, I am a member of House Black, tossed out a long time ago from a cadet line but a member by blood. Harry just reinstated me. He reinstated Andy and her daughter too." Dung said taking a long drag on his cigarette before pulling it away and looking at it.

"Muggles, I used to look down on them, even when every other wizard looked down on me I used to turn my nose up at them, but never again." Dung said letting out a long even flow of smoke. "Have you ever had a muggle scotch? Sat in a muggle five star restaurant and ordered the butter poached lobster? Enjoyed a Marlboro Reds 100?" Dung asked holding out a Cigarette to him.

"No I have not." Shack said taking one of the cigarettes.

"I never did either until Harry took me in. the boy grew up with Muggles and we ended up exploring the muggle world together. Learning to drive together was terrifying. I owe the kid everything which is why I'm here." Dung said.

"It still doesn't explain how Potter became the head of the Black Family." Shack said lighting the cigarette.

"It's an interesting story. So interesting that you're going to beg me to tell you all of it, but before I do we have a deal to work out. The bank opens at six. By half past six you will have the box with enough evidence to print a stunning edition of the Prophet showing Harry Potter as a good kid that was used his whole life until he stopped taking everyone's shit and got things done. Things you and your boys in red couldn't even dream of doing. There is also enough proof in that box to make the old man and every dead Purebloods roll over in their God forsaken graves. There is also flies on half the people that work in this building. Files full of dirt. Dirt that will keep you boys busy for the next six months making arrests. For the box I want immunity for me and anyone else still alive on this list." He said handing over a piece of parchment. "If I don't get a signed immunity deal from you, signed in your blood right now, you get nothing, and the box goes to the Prophet in a week and you go down too for helping the old man. You read the paper like everyone, the public want's your head as it is, if they hear how you kept the Potter scion locked up in a house with muggles under the orders of the evil old man what do you think will happen to you?" Dung asked hushing out his cigarette butt in the ashtray on Shack's desk.

"Say I give you this deal, for me to even sweep this under the rug, I need something from you. I need your oath that you did not kill anyone. I can let you go for theft and fencing goods, but not murder. I need your word that these other people didn't kill anyone either. I don't see Potter on this list so I'm guessing these people didn't do the killing?" Shack asked.

Dung pulled out his wand and held it up. "I, Mundungus Fletcher, never killed anyone." The light flashed.

"Lumos." The tip of his wand glowed.

"Nox. Is that good enough for you?" Dung asked putting away the wand.

"Good enough for you. What about the other names?" Shack Asked pulling out his Director stationary and his blood quill.

"To my Knowledge, the people on the list did not kill anyone." He said repeating the steps of the oath. "Now get to writing." Dung said taking a drink of fire whiskey.

In a few minutes Shack singed the parchment and it flashed. "Legal and binding, I'll let you read it but until the box gets here I'm not letting you walk out of here with it."

"That's fine. I trust you Shack, in fact it's the only reason I'm here right now, because you're a good guy. If anyone else was sitting in your chair then I would never have come here." Dung said handing the parchment back.

There was a knock at the door and Nigel walked in. "Boss we are still trying to figure out who's who but so far we have 63 dead bodies. Most of them burnt beyond being able to ID them. We have a list of the ones we can ID." He said handing his boss the list. "But I'll save you the time to read it. The Dark Lord and Potter are both among the dead. We think a few more of his team are as well. We're still trying to ID bodies." Nigel said before running back out.

"Harry!" Dung said sadly. "The kid was so good he forgot he was not invincible. I hope the others made it out. It was the big fight. The Dark Lord's hide out. It was all hands on deck and I know things got crazy but we all had portkeys. We were supposed to get out if things got too hot."

"How did you guys find the Dark Lord's hide out? Who was all fighting? I want answers!" Shack said.

"I'll tell you everything. I want you to hear it all. I want you to understand but for you to get it I have to start at the beginning. About a year ago and a half ago I was standing guard across the street from Harry's house. It was late June, the kid had only been home for a week. It was hot as hell, I hand a bad hang over and I fell asleep under the cloak. I came to with a wand and a ring shoved into my face.

….

"You have ten seconds to choose. In my left hand is a Black Family ring. With it you will be brought back into the House of Black under my protection and with the full benefits of the House of Black. In my right hand is an unregistered wand. You have ten seconds to pick a hand. If you take the ring you fall under my protection and you will be compensated beyond your wildest dreams. If you pick the wand your brains will be splattered all over the fucking lawn. 10...9...8...7"

"The Ring!" Dung said as he pissed himself.

"Good, I like you Dung, you look out for yourself and you're willing to burn anyone to get want you want. Both good traits for a member of the house of Black. Now put on the ring and get the fuck up. We have about a half hour before the next guard comes and I want to be gone by then. We have to walk tree blocks so get your ass off the ground and start walking." Harry said.

…

"And I did. The second I put on that ring I did everything Harry asked me to and I never regretted it. We walked a few blocks to the town square and took a cab to a flat in London. When we got there Harry told me a crazy story. With Sirius' death his will was opened and Harry was named the Master of House Black. Because he was now the head of two of the oldest and most wealthy houses in Britain the goblins started looking into their biggest client. What they found was shocking. The old man was using the Potter account as his personal account. The goblins made contact with Harry and told him. The Kid went ballistic as you can imagine. He ordered a full audit and a full investigation into his accounts and affairs. That was the day he collected me."

Dung lit another cigarette and took a shot of fire whiskey. "From that day on I was Harry's man. It wasn't a hard decision. The kid was paying me good gold to help him carry messages around and do some shopping for him. As the days went by the goblin investigation into Dumbledore kept coming back with more and more dirt. We knew he couldn't be trusted anymore so when he started sending out Order members to catch Harry we stayed behind the wards on the flat. the more dirt we found the worse it was getting. By December we unlocked some really bad shit." Dung said.

"What kind of dirt were you getting?" Shack asked.

"By fall we found out the old man sold most of the Potter property to use as his slush fund. In order to do it he needed Harry's blood signature. Since Harry never remembered giving it, he thought his memories might have been tampered with. We found a mind healer to fix the blocks on his mind. The old man made him sign all kinds of documents. Including power of attorney papers, marriage documents, and a Will. Harry was legally married to Arthur's daughter, and his Will stated that when he died the old man would split the Potter estate with Molly and her daughter. He would take the lion share of it but still, it's more then Molly ever dreamed of. Of course Harry would need to die for that to take effect. Something the old man was working on as soon as he could get his hands on Harry." Dung said shaking his head.

"You have a confession under truth potion to back up those claims?" Shack asked.

"Recording quill from his office. We had a house elf plant it on his desk and switch it out every day. Every night we would let it write out what it recorded on a big roll of parchment for us to review. When the old man lost control over Harry he became quite mad. He would rant at the magical paintings in his office. Over the Christmas brake we had the elf slip some strong pepper up in his hot chocolate. For one week he stayed up ranting until he had a massive heart attack. The recordings from that week are quite mad. True ravings of lunatic." Dung said.

"So Potter did kill the headmaster. I always wondered about that." Shack said.

"He had no choice Shack, as you'll see from the recordings the old man was really starting to lose it towards the end. He was talking about taking drastic measures to kill Harry. He was hard up for gold and those fancy robes don't come cheap you know. But I'm getting ahead of my self. That happened in December. Back in in the beginning of summer Harry was just trying to get his life together and figure things out. Two weeks after he hired me his friend Hermione Granger got attacked." Dung said taking a drink.

"I remember that attack. It was the first in a string of attacks that lasted the summer." Shack said.

"We didn't know that at the time. All we knew was that a team of Death Eaters showed up at her house. They found themselves on the wrong end of her wand but it was enough to burn some of her house and get her folks asking questions. It didn't help when the ministry hit her with a fine for using her wand outside of school and it really put her and Harry off when they threatened to wipe her parent's memories of the night. They moved in with Harry the next day and he was all set to just up and move. Let the country rot. But Andromeda Black talked him out of it.

…

"That's it! I'm done with this place. Let this cursed island rot with the fools on it. Sheep! That's all the British Wizards are! Fucking Sheep! I say we pack it up and move, I'll cover all the expenses. That goes for all of you. Lets move to the States. We can find a magic school there or we can just go back to being normal and find a good muggle school. One where the student body doesn't walk around carrying loaded weapons capable of killing with just a thought!" Harry ranted as they sat around the living room of his big London flat.

"Harry, you can't just pack it in. you have a responsibility to do something. You've heard the prophecy. Only you can kill the Dark Lord. You can't doom a whole country to death because the government is full of lazy fools!" Andy said.

"Look, even if the prophecy is real, which I doubt it is, then why the hell is the burden for stopping an evil dark lord on my shoulders only? Why the hell isn't the old man doing anything?" Harry asked falling into the seat next to Hermione on the couch. It was obvious to everyone in the room that they liked each other and to prove them all right Hermione took Harry's hand.

"I don't know why Dumbledore isn't doing anything, and I'm not saying the burden should fall on you only. I'm saying we know who the Death Eaters are. We know where they live. Why not start knocking them off? We have a lot of gold and the Pureblood fools that follow the dark Lord have even more. I say we hire a bunch of Hit men and start taking them out. Look what they did to your friend last night Harry. How many more people will they kill before the week is out? Or the month? or in a year? Think about the innocent lives you are damming Harry. The dark is rising. The light is sitting on their hands and letting it happen. We need to do something before it's too late." Andy said.

"Andy, we can't go around killing people. It's wrong." Hermione said. Funny enough her mother and father were silent. Both of them looked like they wouldn't mind if a bunch of wizard Nazis shuffled off the mortal coil.

"Hermione, what is the alterative?" Andy asked.

"Aurors! The law! These Death Eaters need to be arrested, tried, and put in jail that's what Azkaban is for." She said.

"Did you, or did you not fire curses at two of the Death Eaters you helped capture at the end of your school year, last night, to hold them off from killing you and your folks?" Andy asked.

"I… yes but, I'm." She tried but the look her parents were giving her shut her up.

"Two of the men that attacked us were a the same guys you helped arrest?" Her father asked.

"I'm almost sure I saw Malfoy and one of the Lastrange brothers last night." She said looking down at her hands.

Harry reached over and took her other hand. "I'm not arguing with you Andy. The system is totally broken. They attack us with killing curses and we fire stunners back to catch them. They bribe their way out and they come after us again for the inconvenience we put them through by being arrested. I know all of this. My question to you is why I should care? I still say we pack it up and leave. If, in a year things are the same or worse then we will think about doing something. But until I see the situation getting better or worse I just don't care. As my fat fool of an uncle used to say 'God helps those that help themselves.' I never understood that until just now but I can see the logic in it. The Sheep want to hide their heads in the sand and let the Dark Lord run around causing havoc then let them rot. We take our friends and get the hell out. I am not going to risk my life for these people anymore. I just can't do it. Not when they turn on me every other year. What happens when Pureblood upstanding scions of old houses start dying? They will pin it on me. Even if I didn't do it they would pin it on me." Harry said.

"I agree with Harry." Tonks said for the first time since they all sat down. "I work for the corrupt system so I know how messed up it is. I'm close to turning in my shield. I can't do it anymore. We fight them and they come back. We kill them and we get in trouble. Aurors are ordered to not fire anything lethal. If we do we can be tried and sent to Azkaban for it. I've seen it happen to a Muggleborn Auror last month. He was patrolling the alley when Death eaters attacked Olivanders. He fired off stunners but when killing curses started flying he upped his spells to bone breakers and blasting cures. He caught Flint with a bone breaker to the chest. They patched Flint up, he said he was under the Imperus curse, and they charged Stevenson with attempted murder. He's sitting in a cell under the Ministry right now, and he'll be there for the next two years. Ten Aurors quit in the last week. I know ten more that want to follow. This country is going to the dogs. I say let it." She said shrugging.

"How can you say that? Your swore an oath just like I did. You to the DMLE and me to the Wizegamot. We can not just give up on this country!" Andy said looking at her daughter and husband.

"Don't look at me, I can sell the firm and open a new one in America without much loss. Dora is smart enough to go to college and get her accounting degree and work in the firm under me." Ted said.

"I think it's late. I think we should all call it a night and relax over the weekend. No one needs to leave this house and no one can get us here. I think we should take the next two days and think it all over. On Monday we can vote. This is not an all or nothing situation. Anyone that wants to stay can stay in this house. Anyone that wants to start a new life in the states can go with my full backing and finical support. Mr. and Mrs. Granger that goes for you too. You sent your daughter to the supposed best magic school in the country. She became my best friend and because of that your home was burnt and your lives were put in danger. I will be covering any costs, and expenses for the damage done to you home and any decision you make for your future. For now take the guest room and tomorrow we can go look at your home. Tonight Dung will check it out and see if anything is repairable. I know most of the home was undamaged but Dung will see if we can fix the rest. As it is I don't think it's safe to go back there. I am truly sorry." Harry said looking sad.

"Chin up son, you could not have know they were coming for us and I'm thankful you taught Hermione how to fight. She was able to hold off those five guys long enough for the red robed guys to show up. We are both angry about being kept in the dark about things and very proud of our little girl for saving our lives last night." Dan said.

"Dan's right. Hermione is everything to us. I'm just glad we all made it out alive. Nothing else matters as much as that." Emma said holding her daughter to her chest.

"Well, I still feel responsible for this. So make you decisions with out money in mind. I have a huge pile of gold and the muggle exchange rate is crazy." Harry said shaking Dan's hand and hugging Emma.

….

"That weekend they hit the Longbottom and Bones Manor houses killing Augusta and Amelia. Neville and Susan were at Hanna Abbot's place along with some other friends for a party. If the two of them went home instead of getting into the firewisky and falling asleep at the Abbot house they would have died with their relatives. Instead of tonight at the Dark Lords stronghold." Dung said sadly. "Good kids, the both of um." Dung said coughing to hide his emotions as he lit a third cigarette. "Can we get some food sent up or what? Some of us are injured here." Dung said looking away.

"Sure, we'll take a break. We still have three hours until the bank opens. We'll get something brought up so we can keep this conversation going." Shack said.

When his secretary dropped off the two baskets of fish and chips Dung started up again.

"After Susan and Neville came to the flat things changed. The number of people that wanted revenge grew and the ones that wanted to just leave started changing their tune. After some talk it was decided they would try to fight back. They were talking about training with me and looking at the way they wanted to go about this.

….

"I don't care how we do this Harry, but we will do it. Andy's right. If we don't kill these animals they will keep killing us." Susan said.

"We've all lost someone to this group. First my parents and now my Gran. I want blood Harry! You taught us how to fight at school. With more training we can fight back. A say we hit Malfoy manor. I'd love to get my hands on Lucius Malfoy. Three drops of truth potion and he would tell us who to go after next. How hard would it be? Late one night, stun Narcissa and little rat faced Draco…" Neville said thinking about it out loud.

"It would be a lot harder then you're thinking Nev. You're talking about wards on a Pureblood Manor house. And on top of that you're looking at fighting a two fully trained adults and the ferret boy in their own house full of Wards and traps. Then we need truth potion and that stuff is tracked and controlled by the corrupt Ministry. Then you're talking about taking a life. Killing. Can you do it Nev? Put your wand up to Lucius' forehead and cast a blasting curse, and blowing his brains all over the wall. Can you do it nev? I know I can. I've killed before, but can you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry, but after everything I've been through. After losing so much. I think I can. I think killing these murdering assholes is the only thing that's going to make the hurt inside go away. I think if I don't kill these Death Eaters I'm going to snap." Neville said in a dangerous voice. He looked ashamed after saying it but in stead of pulling away his friends came in closer and hugged him.

"Okay Nev. Okay. But if we do this we do it as a team. We do it together. And if we do this then we can never show our faces in this country again. We will be wanted for murder after this." Harry said holding Hermione's hand and hugging Neville.

"Well Hermione will not be doing any killing." Emma said coming into the room. From the look on her and Dan's faces they heard the whole thing.

"I agree." Harry said looking at his best friend that was becoming more everyday with sad eyes.

"Don't I have some say in this?" Hermione asked looking indignant.

"No. Not while we're alive. We can't tell you lot what to do but you young lady are not going to fight some covert war." Emma said crossing her arms.

"I agree with your mum Hermione. I think you're efforts would be better spent researching ways to break wards and get into protected Manor houses. Also a way to get truth potion, something not controlled by the corrupt government would be nice. The same thing for you too Susan. With your aunt gone no one is going to help Andy push back the fools in the Wizengamot. I think you can do the most damage by dropping out of school and taking her seat. We need a public face. All of us are going to be burned the second we don't show up for school in the fall. It's bad enough they're going to pin this on me, but you two should stay out of it. I'd tell Nev the same thing but he has every right to go hunting as I do." Harry said looking around.

"I think Harry's right. We can both do more good in a support role. I'll keep things going in the ministry. Hermione will do what she does best, research. And these two can start training. Hopefully we can hit them hard enough to slow them down." Susan said.

"What kind of training are you two going to be doing?" Dan asked.

"Combat magic, stealth, maybe some blade work. You never know what we might need. We're also going to have to get a few more people. I know Tonks is ready for a good fight, and she has combat training. I'd ask you to join us Dung but you're going to be running around helping Hermione with what ever she needs." Harry said thinking about the combat spells he was researching in the Black family library from his vault. It would seem the Blacks were a band of killers for hire before the light and dark split during the late 1940's.

"I thought you guys were going to hire a team of hit men to do your dirty work?" Dan asked.

"I've been thinking about it but it's hard to trust those types. I have a price on my head too. We hire the wrong group and I could find myself hog tide and sitting front of a group of Death Eaters and Riddle." Harry said.

"I might be able to help you with that." Dan said.

"What?" Harry asked looking shocked.

"I wasn't always a dentist you know? I joined the military to pay for school. Turns out I was good at it. I joined the SAS before I blew out my knee." Dan said lifting his sleeve to show off his tattoo. "I can ask around and see if some of my old SAS friends are willing to pick up some extra work. They might not have what it takes to serve in Her Majesty's Armed Forces any more, but they have plenty in the tank to take out a bunch of wizards. Night time wet work on a bunch of Nazi type shit heads would be right in our wheelhouse. If Emma would have let me keep my sidearm in the house like I asked her to, those fools in the white masks would have been in a morgue right now." Dan said looking every bit the retired commando.

"If you can get a team together I can get the weapons. It won't be hard to steal a few crates from a military base. I'm also willing to pay very well for their services." Harry said.

…

"Wait just one minute! Are you telling me Muggles killed all those Death Eaters? Muggles?" Shack asked.

"That's how it went down Shack. Dan got five of his old injured SAS friends together and Harry helped them rob an army base. They got guns, and explosives. I got them Dragon hide armor on the black market. A few weeks after they talked about it they hit the Malfoy house. I don't have to tell you how good they are. Harry and Neville acted as curse breakers using Hermione's research and Dan and his team handled the killing for the most part. I'm sure Harry and Neville did some too, but you can never be too sure. They never really talked about it in the house. They just planed for the next mission. After it was done they came home the next morning and went to bed without saying anything. To think they all… there were such good kids. They died doing your job! A part of me wants to burn this building to the ground! I have never been treated as well as I was by Harry and his friends. No one took me in and cared for me like them. I'll tell you this now Shack. You better get them all this time and the charges better stick because if just one Death Eater that made it out alive walks free I'll kill them in the street!" Dung said losing his grip on his emotions and letting the tears out. "I need to use your toilet." He said wiping his eyes.

"Yeah, it's that door right there." Shack said sitting back in his seat as dung jumped up and hustled into the water closet. He poured two glasses of whiskey and waited for him to come out.

Nigel knocked and walked in. "New confirmed dead list is 80 people. Some of them are in little bits. We have four explosion points in the house. The explosions look to be muggle. The list of dead is getting long and it's a full of Purebloods. I would say this was going to cause a big stir in the Wizengamot but a third of the members are among the dead including Ogden, Nott, Umbridge, Turner, and Smite. We also have confirmed Granger, Longbottom, and Bones among the dead. We are moving all the bodies to the morgue at Saint Mongos right now." He said looking beat.

"Good work. The bank opens in an hour. Take half the team and let them rest. We should have arrests to make in two hours." Shack said looking deep in thought.

"The Thief's tail that good boss?" Nigel asked.

"It is. When that box comes in and hour and a half we're going to have to move on the intel. If this many ministry employees were in that house the rest of the people in the box will know something is wrong and they will run."

"Understood boss." Nigel said walking out of the office.

Dung came out looking pale and in pain. You okay Dung?" Shack asked.

"I was sick and I hurt my leg getting up off the floor. My spell work for healing is not that good." He said limping to his seat.

"Here let me help you." Shack said casting a bone mending spell and the thief. The bones snapped back together with a sickening crack and Dung looked like he was going to be sick again. "I think you should see a doctor Dung. That sounded really bad."

"I'll be fine for the next two hours, after that I never want the see this building again." He said taking the glass of whiskey off the desk and drinking half of it in one go.

"If your sure then I just have one more question. What happened tonight?"

"Tonight was the fight to end all fights, that's what tonight was. For the last three weeks I've been cozying up to a fresh recruit in the Death eater camp. His name was Crabtree. Fresh out of Durmstrang, and already got a dark mark. He lives in Knockturn Alley and drinks a the Black Widow pub. So I started buying him drinks and talking to him, you know, getting to know you type stuff. I even helped him buy a few dark items from a black market contact I have for the continent. Then four nights ago he was looking pale and shaky like. I asked him what was wrong and he said the Dark Lord was so mad at Harry and his group he was handing out Crusio's like free candy. He says to me the Dark Lord want's to teach Potter a lesson about pain and loss. He say's the Dark Lord was calling a big meeting for all the Death Eaters. Harry knew this was it, the big score. So we set up an ambush for Crabtree.

….

"Dung it that you?" Crabtree asked with a slur as he stumbled into the run down apartment building.

"Yeah, it's me, you left your wand at the bar. I figured you would need it." Dung said holding up a wand in the dimly lit hallway.

"But I have my wand in my coat." He said reaching for it the stunner came from the corner behind him and he never saw it coming.

"Get him in a chair quick I can't obliviate more then ten minutes without him knowing something is wrong." Harry said pulling off his invisibility cloak.

….

"It took thirty seconds to find out what the meeting was. The Dark Lord was going to hand out target assignments. It was a big raid Shack, multiple targets in one night. We wiped Crabtree and I acted like he feel over in his drunken stupor. He agreed to meet with me before the meeting to get the last dark object. A multi-use portkey that can take you through wards. A myth but one he bought into for a lot of gold." Dung said lighting another cigarette.

"I still don't know why everyone went last night. Why did everyone in Potters camp go on the raid? You've made it clear this whole time that Granger and Bones were not fighters. That it was Potter and his band of Muggles that hit all the targets. Why were you and the rest of them there?" Shack asked.

"Because we were called. While it's true we never went on any raids with Harry and Neville, we did sit and wait for the call to come for back up. Hermione, Susan, Tonks, Andy, Ted, and I were back up. If they portkey'ed into a bigger fight then they could handle, or it was a set up and they needed back up we were called on a set of small hand mirror. Last night we were called." Dung said looking haunted.

"What Happened?" Shack asked in a soft voice almost afraid to hear the rest.

"I went to my meeting with Crabtree. I handed him the small gold box and told him it was a portkey. In fact it was a bomb in a trunk under compression and gamers. It also had a tracking charm on it. Harry and the team tracked it to the old Riddle house, we'll at least to the cemetery. The house was under too many wards to track it pasted that point. They waited for a few minutes and they canceled the charms on the trunk and detonated the bomb. The bomb took out the wards and most of the house, but they blew it up too fast. A few seconds later about a hundred Death eaters portkey'ed into the wreckage right ontop of harry and his team. We were called in a few seconds later. I don't know what happened after that, because I was dropped bay a bone breaker to the knee. When I hit the ground a chunk of broken wall fell on me knocking me out. I came to sounded by Aurors." Dung Said brushing a stray tear from the corner of his eye. "I had hopes that they got away, but the list. Oh Gods I have to tell Emma about the kids!" Dung said looking green again.

"look, Dung, the bank is opening any minute now. I'll send my Auror to get the box. Once I have it in my hands you are free to go. For now just try to relax. You've had a rough night. It sounds like your about to have a rough day on top of that." Shack said taking the ring and the letter off his desk and walking out of his office.

When Shack walked back in Dung was standing with his cane by the window looking out at the still dark street and the people starting their day. "Look at them down there. Walking around like today is any other day. For them it's Monday. last night the Dark Lord that was threatening their lives was killed. None of them know it, and none of them care because it's Monday and they have to be at work soon. I wonder if they could be walking around like that if Harry and his team had packed up and left like he wanted to a year and a half ago. I wonder if they would walk the streets with such care free smiles on their faces. You know what that smile reminds me of? Sheep. Sheep happy to be eating grass in the field. Happy as the farmer walks them into the barn. Happy until he slits their little necks and drains them of the life they didn't even know they were living. Later this morning, when the paper comes out at a later hour then normal they even notice. When they open the paper and see the menace that was Harry Potter, Half-Blood killer of Pureblood Scions will they rejoice? The fact that the dark lord is dead will be an after thought. A vague memory of a group they were told to fear but forgot because Harry Potter took his place. Because a Half-blood dared to kill upstanding citizens. Funny how the Dark Lord and Harry share the same crimes." Dung said without looking up.

"This world rarely makes sense Dung. You know that. There are days when I look out and see what you see. On those days I think about the people that matter to me. My wife. My kids. My friends. The rest of the people might not be worth fighting for but the people I care about are. It's why I do this job. You think I like working here? I hate this place but it allows me to fight the evil before it spreads to my family." Shack said pouring another two glasses of whiskey. "Here, we drink to the fallen. My they find piece and love in the afterlife." He said clinking glasses with Dung.

"To the kids. They let this war start but the kids fought it for us." Dung said taking a sip and sighing.

The Auror came in with a metal box with the Goblin seal on it. "Thank you, Goldstone, go find Nigel and tell him we will have work to do soon." Shack said opening the box. Inside the box was expanded and had boxes of files and racks of phials with memory strands.

"That's everything we have. Dirt on people we didn't catch, recordings of the interrogations, and memories of crimes committed that Harry and his team pulled from Death Eater's minds." Dung said lighting a cigarette as he leaned over the box.

"This all looks really good. Very detailed and totally official. I could submit this box to the Wizengamot as evidence and it would all be admissible." Shack said pulling out boxes of files.

"That would be the girl's doing. Between Hermione's eye for detail and Susan's

Knowledge of Wizengamot they knew how to collect the evidence and how to store it. They knew muggle tape and moving pictures would not work for you so they worked with magical items." Dung said tiredly.

"This all looks good, your free to go. Get some rest friend. If I need to contact you can I reach you?" Shack asked looking up from the file in his hand.

"Tom the barkeep can get a message to me." Dung said gathering his overcoat and finishing the last bit of whiskey in his glass.

"Good enough for me. I'll see you around Dung." Shack said shaking his hand.

"Lets hope it's not in an official capacity." Dung said as he limped out of the office on his cane. He got into the elevator and hit the button for the lobby.

….

Goldstone found Nigel in the morgue in the basement of Saint Mongos across the street form the Ministry building. "Hey Nigel, the boss says it's time for the arrests." He said looking at all the burnt bodies on tables in the room. "My God's, is this all from the raid?" He asked.

"It is, we've been using healer records to male positive ID's for most of these." Nigel said looking up from his clip board.

"Auror! Something's wrong with this Body!" One of the attendants yelled.

….

As Fletcher walked out of the ministry he saw two Aurors running up the stairs of the ministry building like the hounds of hell were chasing them. Fletcher flipped up the hood on his coat and walked down the alley to the Leaky Caldron at an easy pace.

….

Goldstone and Nigel barged into Shack's office. "Boss the dead bodies are not the people we think they are!"

"What!?" Shack yelled.

….

Fletcher walkthrough the gate way at the back of the pub and took off his coat. lifting the lid on the trash can he tossed the coat and the cane he was leaning on into the can with a smirk. Walking through the pub he smiled at Tom and walked out the front door. He walked down the street and as he got further away from the pub his limp slowly disappeared. At the end of the block he opened the back door of a black BMW parked on the street corner and got in. As the car pulled away his brown eyes shifted to green and his hair turned black.

"How are we doing on time?" He asked in a voice that was half way between a gruff whisper and a smooth clip.

Hermione turned back from her front seat. "Susan is waiting with the plane. Our contact in Sydney is waiting for us. How far are we Neville?" She asked.

The man behind the wheel turned to her and smiled. "Fifteen minutes out boss."

"Good, the faster we get to someplace warm the better. I'm getting tiered of this fucking place." He said pulling out a cigarette. "Anyone got a light?"

…

Back in the office the gold Zippo flashed brightly drawing the three men's attention. When the light faded a small gold box sat in it's place. Shack opened the little box and found a note and ten phials with glowing gray potion.

"What is it boss?" Nigel asked.

Shack read the note and looked even more shocked. "Dear Director, by the time you are reading this I will be on a plane heading off this cursed island never to return again. Enclosed are ten batches of strong Polyjuice potion for the ten fake corpses you have in the morgue. You have two choices: Pour the contents of the potion onto the bodies and take photos for the paper to show we are dead. Or tell the paper you had Harry Potter sitting in your office for hours and you let him get away. The choice is yours, but Harry Potter is dead. So are the rest of the people I care about. You will never find us. You will never catch us, and if you come looking for us you will meet your end. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. All you have to do is prove tell the sheep I died." Shack said out loud. When he set the note down on his desk it turned to ash.

"Director, what do you want us to do?" Nigel asked.

"How? I saw him give an oath that he was Fletcher!" Shack said falling into his chair looking pale.

"How did he say it?" Nigel asked.

"I, Mundungus Fletcher never killed anyone." Shack said looking at his head Auror and long time friend.

"I, Mundungus Fletcher, or Aye, Mundungus Fletcher? One says me, the other says yes." Nigel said smirking.

"My Gods." Shack said holding his forehead.

"It doesn't matter now anyways. We have work to do. We have a box full of criminals to arrest. The question is, do you want me to add Potter and his friends to that list? Or, do you want me to go back to the morgue to take some pictures first?" Nigel asked sitting back in his chair.

"Take the pictures. I'll start going over this box and make a list." Shack said with a sad smile.

"On it boss." Nigel said taking the little box off the desk. "Goldstone your with me, we have to modify some memories as well. We can't have a few morgue guys telling tales."

"No more telling tales today." Shack said looking at the box.


End file.
